Nearly a year into the 2024 Republican presidential campaign and with just days to go before caucuses begin in Iowa, Donald Trump’s top two opponents on Wednesday night finally began using his behavior on Jan. 6, 2021, and the legal consequences he faces for the coup attempt against him.
“I think what happened on Jan. 6 was a terrible day, and I think President Trump will have to answer for it,” said former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, who also stated a fact that has become heresy among Trump and his followers: “That election, Trump lost it. Biden won that election.”
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, while not directly criticizing Trump, pointed out that his criminal prosecutions could create problems for Republicans come November and predicted he’s likely to be convicted by a District of Columbia jury on charges related to the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol. “What are we going to do as Republicans in terms of who we nominate for president? If Trump is the nominee, it’s going to be about Jan. 6, legal issues, criminal trials. The Democrats and the media would love to run with that.”
The new, tougher approach came near the end of CNN’s debate at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa ― and just hours after former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie dropped out of the race after shaming his opponents for being too afraid to take on Trump the way he had.
Trump had been invited to the debate but chose not to attend, just as he skipped all four debates sponsored by the Republican National Committee last year.
DeSantis, who a year ago was actually leading Trump in a number of national and early-voting-state polls, has seen his support erode over the months. He is essentially tied with Haley in Iowa in the mid-teens, with Trump holding a commanding lead of some 30 percentage points.
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In New Hampshire, which will hold the first primary exactly eight days later Monday’s caucuses, Haley has been closing in on Trump for weeks and is now just 7 points behind in one new poll, with DeSantis in the low single digits.
Whether Haley’s willingness to take on Trump directly over Jan. 6 and his legal problems will translate into more support is unclear. Polls immediately after Jan. 6 found that even a majority of Republicans blamed Trump for what had happened, while polling today shows that Republicans are back in his corner, according to GOP consultant Sarah Longwell.
The discussion about Jan. 6 arose only because CNN moderator Jake Tapper brought up Trump’s views of the Constitution in light of oral arguments in one of his criminal cases on Tuesday. Neither candidate appeared to want to attack Trump unprompted and instead spent much of the two-hour debate attacking each other.
Haley is soft on China and illegal immigration and is beholden to her donors, DeSantis told the audience multiple times.
DeSantis, meanwhile, opposed ethanol subsidies that help Iowa corn farmers, blew through $150 million on his campaign only to collapse in the polls and lies so frequently that people should go to a website to read about them, Haley countered. She promoted her campaign site, desantislies.com, dozens of times.
The two have agreed to a pair of debates ahead of the New Hampshire primary: one on Jan. 18, which will be hosted by ABC News, and one on Jan. 21, which will again be moderated by CNN.
